3. THE DAMP GARDEN
When the first edition of this book went to the printers in 2002, the
Damp Garden was just taking shape.
Along with the Spring Garden it’s the first area to flood and is often under water when everything else is dry, but I resisted making a pond here because when we came to Longmeadow we had small children.
Friends of my parents had a twoyear-old daughter who drowned in their small garden pond, so it was drummed into me from an early age that small children and ponds did not mix.
Time went by, the garden became more established, the youngest learned to swim like a fish, but water still did not officially feature in any way in the garden. When the first series of Gardeners’ World to be shot in this garden was coming to a close in October 2011, the producer said I ought to have a pond. It was made in the winter of 2012 and within a few months it looked as though it had always been there, with hostas, ligularias, rodgersias, ferns, primu- las and water lilies (below).
From the outset I decided this was to be a natural-looking wildlife pond rather than a formal expanse of water illuminated with a few choice plants. Frogs, newts, water beetles and other aquatic insects quickly became established. One of the wonders of making any kind of pond is seeing how quickly the range of wildlife expands and makes its home there – as well as the bird and bat population benefitting hugely, because ponds also attract lots of insects.
One aspect of having a pond
I had completely underrated was the quality of light that water brings into play. At different times of day, the light reflects in different ways on the water as it is thrown back up to the surrounding trees. And when the setting sun falls exactly through a gap in the Long Walk’s hornbeam hedge, it creates a shining line of light on the surface of the water.
We paved the area between the hedge and water and I often sit there. Here I am hidden from the rest of the garden, drinking deep of the peace and sense of harmony with the natural world that a pond, surrounded by plants that are all at home either in or at the water’s edge, seems to impart more than any other area of a garden.